It is well known that hospitality establishments, herein defined as hotels, motels, hospitals, rental condominiums and the like, operate in a highly competitive environment. In order to attract customers and generate additional revenue, such hospitality establishments offer a wide variety of services, including an assortment of video services. In addition to broadcast and cable television, hotels and motels often have video services systems that provide pay-per-view and video-on-demand services, as well as a variety of interactive services. Pay-per-view services are movie services broadcast at predetermined or scheduled times. The programming can be accessed by multiple television sets (TVs) at any given time while the transmission is in progress. Video-on-demand services enable customers to select one of several programs to be viewed at their convenience. Viewing times are not prescheduled and customers typically are given a choice of a large number of programming alternatives (generally from eight (8) to fifty (50) video programs). Usually the selected programming is transmitted in such a manner that only the customer who selected the programming is able to receive the broadcast. U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,611 (Fenwick) teaches an analog video-on-demand system. With a recent advancement in the art, some video-on-demand systems provide "join-in-progress" capability so that additional customers can access and view a program initially selected by one customer. Interactive programs range from video games and interactive informational programs that describe the establishment's facilities and services. Interactive services also can allow customers to purchase goods and services from their room using the TV and the video services system and even pay their room bill and check out of the hotel with their room TV.
The current art provides several means by which consumers can pay for the pay-per-view, video-on-demand, and interactive video services. It is known in the art that a centralized computer processor for the video services system can be connected to the establishment's property management system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,607 (Johnson) describes the integration of a hospitality establishment's property management system and the video services system's controlling computer. The property management system contains room and bill files for each establishment customer. Typically, at check-out, the charges recorded in the room file are totaled and the file is printed as customer's bill. Because of the electronic connection between the video services system processor and the property management system, the processor is able to display billing information on the TV screen and copy video service charges into a customer's room and bill file.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,448 (Biggs) teaches a telephone with speed dial keys and a credit card reader. Consumers are able to use the speed dial keys to access on- and off-premises services. Consumers can pay for the on-premises services, such as room service and video-on-demand services, by using the card reader. Billing data collected by the card reader is transmitted via a telecommunications circuit to a computer that processes and stores the data. With this method, the consumer must interact with two systems, the video and the telecommunications systems. It still can be confusing for consumers to use the telephone to pay for video services, even if these systems are integrated.
Other interactive systems allow customers to use a remote control to enter data and interact with a remote processor. Customers use the room remote control unit to manually enter billing information that is received by the television or a room unit on or near the television and transmitted via the video services system to the processor. The processor receives and records the billing information and approves the transaction. Some processors also have the capability of providing real-time validation of the billing information to assure that the billing card is valid and that the account contains sufficient funds for the purchase. However, consumers cannot use the remote control unit to automatically enter their billing data. Because billing data must be entered manually, billing data transmission from the remote control unit to the infrared receiver is slow with significant opportunities for errors.
Infrared transmission technology has developed considerably over the last twenty years. U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,031 (Crowther) taught methods for receiving IR signals from remote control units to prevent signal overlaps. Ten years later, U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,718 (Testin) taught improvements to interpreting remote control signals by modifying receiver sampling of "toggle" commands (power application and muting) to increase debouncing parameters, as compared to "channel up" or "channel down" commands. These methods solve the problems of shipping simple on/off commands too rapidly, while allowing channel up/channel down commands to move more quickly.
Various data transfer techniques have been developed and transferred to the consumer electronics industry. U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,647 (Collins) is an example of how parity check can be established between a remote transmitter and receiver. However, these methods do not begin to address the problems of being able to transmit up to forty or more characters from a hand-held remote control unit in exact sequence to a remote receiver.
In order to remain competitive and maximize earning potential, hospitality facilities require payment and billing methods that make it easier and more convenient for consumers to input various types of billing data--including debit and credit cards. For this reason, it is desirable to combine card readers and infrared remote control units in such a manner that consumers can use the resulting unit to "swipe" their credit card and have the billing data transmitted via a video services system to a computer processor for validation and storage.
However, the use of a remote control unit to capture and transmit billing data presents unique problems. For example, customers often fail to point remote control units exactly at the television's infrared receiver and the data received is corrupted or incomplete. In addition, some compact florescent lights comprise switching power supplies that cause the light to be modulated at a frequency that interferes with the infrared transmissions from the remote control. Typically the photo receiver is so overwhelmed with signals that the transmissions from the remote control are often misread. This phenomenon would cause the transmission of the billing data from a remote control to be blocked or degraded.
Card reader functionality requires additional energy beyond the standard requirements of the remote control unit and can prematurely drain the remote control's power source--usually two 1.5 volt ("AA") batteries. The lack of sufficient power causes the unit to incorrectly read and transmit the billing data and increases the expense of maintaining the remote control units.
Therefore, what is needed, and what has heretofore been lacking in the art, is a remote control unit with a card reader that can reliably read and transmit credit card or debit card data to an infrared receiver resident in the TV or a room unit adjunct to the TV.